After the tsunami destroyed the Fukushima plants, Germany moved quickly to shut eight nuclear power plants, and made plans do away completely with their nuclear capability. Despite the best safety record of any industry in the country, and the critical role nuclear plays in fueling German industry, Germany has a past experience with large a tsunamis that was just too horrific to ignore. And Germany has a strong economy and commitment to protect the environment and few funds to pay for Chancellor Merkel to shore up her weak coalition with the Free Democrats. Maybe she can ask Greece for help later.
Germany is building a fleet of new coal-fired power plants to replace their shuttered nuclear fleet, reversing their downward trend in carbon emissions and pollutants. Source: Parys Ryszard/Shutterstock
But do not worry. Germany is building about 25 clean coal-fired power plants to offset the loss of nuclear and address the German admittedly unaffordably expensive and unreliable renewable portfolio (Der Spiegel). The German Green Party can now celebrate the opening of a 2,200 MW coal-fired power plant near Cologne. It started spewing out its annual, relatively clean, 13 million tons of CO2, and other nasties, so much lower than those older dirty coal plants that would have put out 15 million tons of CO2 for the same power output.
A perfect fit to a German low-carbon future.
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Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-